The Summer I Met Your Brother
by Aberiah
Summary: Short story. Bella tells Alice the story of how she met Edward at camp one summer back when they were just kids.  Bella/Edward AH
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes**: This started out as a short story assignment I had to do in a photo history class where we were to choose a picture from the 1800's and write a short story about it. When I saw the picture that I wanted, to me, it had Bella written all over it. I am trying to paste this picture in this document but if it doesn't upload correctly then just click on my profile first to take a look at the picture so it will be in your mind while you're reading. I am trying to use the pic as my avatar. Enjoy!

Also want to give a shout out and say a big thank you to my very first beta, PHO3N1X 5ONG.

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns everything.

I stood on the creaky old hardwood floors of my new home. It was, on the outskirts of Seattle Washington, tucked away in the lush and beautiful spring foliage. I looked, out my new bedroom window, experiencing the sights and sounds of a lazy spring thunderstorm. I took a deep, cleansing breath. This was just part of the new life that I would be sharing with my new fiancé, Edward Anthony Cullen.

I was happy. I couldn't believe that I, Isabella Marie Swan, was actually feeling happy, but I was. I smiled and let a couple of happy tears slide down my cheeks, catching them with my bottom lip so I could savor their salty meanings.

My plan for the day was to relax, spend some quality girl-time with my bff/soon to be sister-in-law, Alice, and unpack a few of the boxes that were strewn about and piled high along the walls. I knew unpacking all of our stuff was going to be a big job, so I had decided to have some fun with it. I was just going to do a little each day and reminisce as I went. I mean, when else do you _really_ look at half of the shit in your house?

Edward was out with "the boys" today, playing baseball and doing whatever else a group of grown men do in their spare time, so Alice and I would have the house to ourselves.

"Umm…Bella?" Alice called from the living room.

"What?" I threw back, still in my moment at the window, and not really paying attention.

"Is this you? What the hell?"

I finally broke out of my mental fog and started to walk into the living room. I had no idea what she was talking about, but from her mixture of what sounded like amusement and disbelief, my curiosity was aroused.

When I found her, she was holding up an old picture of me that I had not seen in years. My eyes quickly scanned the area around her, wondering where she had found it.

I delicately took the picture from her outstretched hands and slowly sank down on the couch next to her, staring back at myself within the frame.

Alice's amusement had turned into curiosity and concern. I was sure she watched a myriad of emotions play across my face as I looked at the photo.

"Where did you find this?" I breathed out.

"It was in this box right here." She pointed to the box sitting next to her.

I leaned over her legs a little and saw that it was one of Edward's boxes. I was suddenly overcome with emotion as I realized that he had kept this photo of me for all these years. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes and I tried to blink them away.

"Okay…Bella? You're killing me here. I mean, I can see that's you," she said, pointing at the picture in my hands, "but last time I checked, you were not some Quaker girl from back in the freaking stone ages. Secondly, what is with that expression, girl? Like…who pooped in your cheerios that morning? Or…I guess…porridge might be more accurate?"

Her amusement was starting to resurface. I finally looked up at her and couldn't help but laugh a little.

"And thirdly," she took back the picture and held it up closer to her face, "is that a real deer? I know you like animals, but you didn't tell me you were like little Miss Dr. Doolittle!"

By now we were both laughing so hard that I had to stop for a minute to catch my breath before I could answer her.

"Oh, Alice, this is why I love you." I was still letting my laughter die out and took the picture back, wiping my hand across the glassy surface.

"This was the summer that I met Edward."

"Oh my god, is this from that weird camp he insisted on going to every summer?" she shrieked. "You were there?" Her mouth slowly turned up into a smug smirk.

All of a sudden, Alice jumped off the couch and sprinted into the kitchen. I heard her rummaging around in the drawers and cabinets. Then she walked back into the living room like a woman on a mission, a gallon of cookie dough ice cream in one hand and two bowls and spoons in the other. I knew what was coming and smiled at her.

She dumped everything out on the coffee table and huffed as she sat back down on the couch beside me.

"Look, I can tell this story is going to be good," she said, tearing the lid off of the ice cream and handing me my bowl and spoon, "so I had to get all of the necessary components."

Once she had everything straightened out the way she wanted, she sank back into the cushions facing me and took a deep breath.

"Okay, I'm ready. You may start, my dear, whenever you are ready." She dipped her head to me as if giving me her permission to begin.

"Well, all right, Miss Thang," I laughed, "I can't believe I've never actually told you the story of how I met your brother, but…ummm…here it goes." I dug out a huge scoop of ice cream with my spoon and took myself back to the summer I turned eleven.

Chapter End Notes: Did you like? Review and let me know what you think?


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors Notes:** If you need a refresher go check out my profile/avatar to see the photograph that inspired this story.

Again I want to give a shout out and say a big thank you to my very first beta, PHO3N1X 5ONG.

Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns everything.

"Alice, I know we have been inseparable since we met, but my life before I met you was very different. I know I don't speak about it much and I am sorry for that, but I just don't like dredging up this girl," I pointed to myself in the picture, "anymore than necessary."

I looked at her apologetically, hoping she would understand. When she gave me a small smile and nodded, I continued.

I looked down at the picture again, really taking it all in as I tried to gather my thoughts.

"This," I said, holding up the picture, "is a Daguerreotype*. I can tell you about that later, but for now, it's…just…one of the ways that people made photos back in the 1800's. This guy, this Daguerrean photo vendor, came to camp every year and made a killing on these. People would get these photos taken and leave camp every summer with an authentic 1800's photo that in every way indicated that they were actually there…living in the 1800's, I mean."

"Think about it. If you didn't know me and saw this photo, you would have thought it was somebody's ancestor or something, right? You wouldn't have known this was a photo of some little girl from Arizona, born in 1991, playing 'old-time' at some camp?" I looked at her for confirmation and she nodded, totally engrossed. At this point, she had discarded the bowl and was eating the ice cream straight out of the container.

I looked down at the picture again. It was like looking at a stranger. Gone were my cute and fashionable clothes of the new millennium. In their place was a plain, oppressively modest, black dress and hat that had been appropriate for any young girl living in the 1800's. This was, of course, intended as this picture had been taken during one of my summers at Camp 50's…the 1850's that is.

"So yeah, this is me, dirty faced and scowling, standing with one of the deer from the paddock. I remember I called her PB because she looked like the color of peanut butter to me. I always filled this tin can up with pieces of carrots and apples when I went to visit PB," I said, pointing at the picture, "which was a lot."

"Anyway, I had been minding my own business with PB, as usual, when the Daguerreotype guy came along. He couldn't believe that I was able to get that close to a deer. He told me he wanted to make two pictures of PB and I and that I didn't have to pay or anything. He wanted one for his portfolio and he would give the other one to me."

"Well," I said, laughing, "I couldn't have cared less what he did with his camera. I just wanted to be left alone, so I just stood there, bored, and waited for him to finish and leave."

"So that explains the picture, yeah?" I said looking at her for confirmation.

Alice took the picture from me and laughed a little when she got a closer look at my steely glare.

"Okay, yes, I understand the picture. Now get to the lovey, dovey stuff already!" Alice gave the picture back to me and resumed eating the now melting ice cream.

"All right, all right!" I giggled.

"So, you kind of need to hear a little back story about me first to understand why Edward and I had the kind of relationship we did that first summer he showed up to camp."

I took a deep breath. I always hated seeing the pity on people's faces when I first told them this.

"Okay, you know my mother, Renee, but what you don't know is that a few years after my Dad died, she got married to a guy named Phil. Well…Phil molested me…a lot."

And there it was, that horrified pitiful look, the one that said people felt compelled to "do something for me". I held up my hands to stop her.

"Just chill out. I'm okay now. We can talk about that part later if you want, but just know that I've gotten that all worked out. Let's just get on with the story for now." She looked unconvinced, but she acquiesced after a few seconds and sat back again, using her fingers to make a mock zipping motion on her lips.

"To say that I was unhappy is an understatement, but nobody ever seemed to notice. After a while, I just tried to stay away from people altogether. The whole experience killed my trust. I mean, if I couldn't trust my own parents, who were supposed to love me the most, then who the hell could I trust?"

"Phil was major league baseball player, so he made plenty of money and Renee didn't have to work. Well, she was, is, obsessed with old-fashioned things. She found out about Camp 50's on some website when I was nine and decided that she absolutely must be in this environment. She sent in an application for a job that same day. She got the job and just like that, my next nine summers were spent at Camp 50's with my mother."

"Needless to say, and I'm sure you can tell from this photo, I absolutely hated it there." I laughed a little.

"I didn't hide it either. I made sure that nobody wanted to be around me. Like I said, I didn't trust people, especially adults, so I had no desire to make nice with any of the camp leaders. I just didn't have that sense of innocence that I saw in the other kids anymore. I remember feeling like an old person in a child's body." I shook my head, remembering the intense feelings of loneliness and isolation I felt at such a young age.

"I mean, what kid would want to spend their summers pretending to live in the 1800's?"

"Well, as it turns out, your brother did." I smirked, thinking about the first time I saw him.

**Chapter End Notes:** One chapter left guys. Hope you are enjoying it. Give me a review and tell me what you think.

* If you don't know what a Daguerreotype is, head on over to Google and check it out. People really went to a lot of trouble back in the day to make a photograph.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Notes: **If you need a refresher, go check out my profile/avatar to see the photo that inspired this story.

Also want to give one last shout out to and say a big thank you to my very first beta, PHO3N1X 5ONG.

Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns everything.

"I remember the first time I saw him," I said, laughing. "He was like a ball of happiness and joy. Your family was the epitome of the American Dream. He came with his loving mother, Esme, and devoted father, Carlisle, in their sleek black, expensive Mercedes." I suddenly realized what I had said and looked up at her.

"Don't get offended, okay? I'm just telling you what my first impression was as a kid."

"No, no," she put her hands up to shoo me on. "Trust me; I understand the whole first impression thing."

I nodded.

"Well, it made me sick. They…made me sick. I vowed to stay as far away from all of them as possible that summer."

"Edward, on the other hand, must have felt the exact opposite of me because he literally did not leave me alone the entire time," I said, laughing at the irony.

"None of my usual evil, anti-social antics worked on him and trust me; I tried every trick in the book. If he was any other kid, he would have cried and probably begged his parents to never come again. I think, looking back, that he was just very naive."

"I mean, you guys had it all." I gave her a small smile. "And as a kid, he had probably never seen another kid who acted like me. When we were older, he told me that he had been "intrigued"," I used finger quotes, "by me from the very beginning."

"So anyway, that is how most of that first summer went. I hated him and wanted him to scram and he followed me around like he was my shadow, completely oblivious to my hatred."

"Wait! We need an intermission." Alice stood up. Sure enough, when I looked down I saw that the ice cream was almost completely melted.

"Hey!" I starting gathering up our dirty bowls and spoons. "Now I want something salty," I laughed. "How about some pizza? You know, just to complete the health disaster that our dinner has become."

"Eeeeeek! Yes! I'm going to go call them right now."

Alice took out her phone and ordered two large pizzas. The pizza was going to take about 30 minutes, so we used that time to use the bathroom and clean up a little.

We had just finished unpacking another of the boxes when the doorbell rang. I ran over to the door to pay for the pizza and I heard Alice running to the kitchen to get the plates. We reconvened on the couch, giggling like school girls.

Alice proceeded to stuff her face while I got back to my story.

"All right, so sometime toward the end of that first summer with Edward, I just kind of accepted the fact that he wasn't going to go away and we started to talk. I mean, aside from being annoyingly happy, he wasn't that bad."

"He shared my love of animals and nature and we spent a lot of time in the forest in these deep conversations about…everything. He talked about his family a lot." I looked up at her. "He told me about you, how you were so much older and that you were away at college."

"Anyway, I remember feeling more and more comfortable with him as the days went by and he told me more about himself. At that point, I hadn't really opened up that much yet, but he seemed fine with that…or maybe he didn't even notice." I laughed.

"When I was lying in the girl's cabin one night, about a week before the end of camp, I decided that I was going to make that leap of faith and tell him about myself. I wanted him to know why I was the way I was. I felt like he deserved it."

"I was so nervous the next day. I waited all day for the perfect moment. I knew we had the most time to ourselves between the lunch and supper meal calls, so when that time came, I took him out into the forest and we sat down in the mossy undergrowth."

"Basically, I lay everything out for him. I bared my soul to him that day. I told him about my Dad dying and my mom moving us away and having to leave all of my friends. I told him about what Phil was doing to me and how it made me feel every day. I told him how much I hated coming to camp every summer. I told him everything."

"By the time I was done, I was a crying, snotty mess. He never said a word the whole time I was venting; he just came over and sat next to me while I cried it all out." I looked over at Alice and saw that she was wiping a few tears away.

"Something changed between Edward and I that day. It felt like something shifted and clicked into place." I smiled a little, still looking down at the picture in my hand.

"That last week, it was like Edward had acquired a whole new aspect to his personality. It was like he had appointed himself as my protector. I mean, he was only ten-years-old, but he really went out of his way to help me in any way he saw fit. I guess I changed too in a way. Edward made me feel like I had someone…something to cling to."

"So, inevitably, the day came for the parents to pick up the kids from camp. Edward's…well your," I gestured to her, "parents came. Edward introduced them to me for the first time and guess what?" I laughed. "They're not that bad. They're pretty cool actually."

"Umm, thanks!" Alice said, laughing. "I happen to think so too."

"Well, anyway," I said as our laughing died down again, "Phil came to pick Renee and I up. When the camp leaders called out for me to come to the main cabin where Phil was waiting, Edward was there, holding my hand the whole way."

"The second we came around the corner of the main cabin where Phil was standing, Edward dropped my hand and just took off at a full sprint toward Phil. He straight up attacked his ass!"

"I mean, just imagine Edward's ten-year-old little body-arms flailing, scratching, hair pulling, biting-doing anything he could to hurt him." I looked over at Alice and she looked shocked.

"I never heard anything about this," Alice mused. "I wonder why mom never said anything."

"Probably because nothing ever came from it. Edward was so small. He didn't even hurt Phil and, really, people kind of just brushed it off, not knowing what had gotten into him."

"I knew what had gotten into him though. He had walked around camp that whole week with me and had never said a word about anything I told him. He had been saving all of his rage and anger for Phil."

"The whole time he was attacking Phil, I was frozen, like in the movies when everything goes into slow motion." I looked up at her. "You know what I mean?" She nodded.

"I knew right then and there that I loved Edward and that he would always hold a special place in my heart."

Alice threw her arms around me and hugged me hard. When she drew back, she was wiping tears off her face.

"Thank you, Bella. I just…I could never have imagined or wished for a better person for my brother." I nodded, blushing.

In an effort to end my embarrassment at her praise, I suggested that we clean up our leftover pizza mess and gather up her stuff. It was starting to get late and Edward and the other guys would be home soon.

Once again we ended up on the couch, but in a comfortable silence this time, both of us contemplating what had transpired between us this evening.

"There is one more thing I want to know." Alice looked at me.

"Go ahead."

"What happened between then and now? I mean, you guys obviously kept going to camp."

"Umm…," I tried to figure out how I could sum those next few years up. "Well, to make a long story short, before Edward and I parted ways that year, we made a pact that we would make our parents bring us back the next summer. Even though I hated Camp 50's, if that was the only way I could see Edward, then there was no other place I wanted to be, come summer-time."

"That winter, spurred on by the courage I remembered in Edward, I told my mom about Phil and what was going on. It was rough for a while. Mom divorced Phil and we prosecuted him. My mom threw me into intensive therapy to help me work through all the stuff I was and had been going through, which was, by the way, one of best things she ever did for me."

"So, I spent my teen years going to therapy in the off season and being with Edward at Camp 50's during the summer. Every summer, we got a little closer, but we never did the boyfriend-girlfriend thing."

"Fast forward to the summer after I turned 17. Edward and I knew that I would be of age the next summer, so we made plans to spend the summer together on a cross country road trip. Well…really, an all over the country road trip. Your mom and dad knew me well by then and they trusted us, so they let him go with me even though he was still only 17 at the time." I smiled.

"It was one of the best summers of my life. And the rest is history. We spent every summer together after that in our own ways. One year, we rented a cabin in Montana for the whole summer. Another year, your parents paid our way to backpack across Europe. And last summer, as you know," I smirked at her, "we decided to go back to Camp 50's and volunteer just for the hell of it. That is where Edward proposed to me, back where it all started." I had to let out a girly sigh then. When I looked at Alice, we were both smiling so widely that it looked like our faces were going to split apart.

"And here we are now," sighed Alice. She took the picture back from me and gently placed it back in the box of Edward's things she had been unpacking earlier.

"I'll just let him go through this one himself." She smiled coyly at me.

Just then, the boys burst through the door, laughing, and making a huge commotion. Alice and I threw each other knowing smirks before standing up to go greet our men.

The End

**Chapter End Notes: **That's a wrap folks. This is the longest story I have ever written and I would love to hear your comments. Worst thing you have ever read? Or, want to see more? Tell me what you thought. And finally, thanks for taking the time to read my little story. It makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.


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